New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-03-15
WHAT PEOPLE THINK AND SAT,
CHLoRoFoRM FOR CATS AND CRIMINALS

CHLOROFORM FOR CATS AND CRIMINALS
TO TIE Bditer Of The Trfbans'
srRi These remarks are suggested by q paragraph
allow Criminals should be Executed y In IHE iHiB'
ySE, and by the following letsr which reached tho
president of Cornell University from an adjoining
town
Mr. Charles Adams Dear Sir Have underssto,n "a
that you used eats at your school II so pesse aux 1
HE of what time have an 0vcrstock anu noh n n
to kill them III this Is out of your line nope 20" WI,
hand snme to Prot who does What price WY
respectfully yours
In accordance with tho considerable parenthesis
embodying all OF tho punctuatiop tho document came
into nv hands and was duly answered In the eApeo-
tatiou that the oyorstock" would shortly be demV-
cred ut the anatomical department cat house. ,,s m
primary purpose and the character OF thiS euiioo'
where comfort Is secul ed by abundant loou, po
burning stove and separate beds sometimes ihvaueu
by the sociabe who spends his winters c u
are set forth the inscription over the door 5
housed and fully fed, happy living ana use!ui u
But the couplet fails to impart equally important
assurance. namely that in place OF the more OF is ih
convenient and barbarous modes OF Killing Will t,
the writer of the letter doubtless familiar, anu
which to his credit he shrank there Is provlned io
these superhuuus cats veritabe euthandsia' uen ~
chloroorm. The animal Is put INTO cio a an,s
tablespoonful of chlOroform costing but n re-" "'o
is poured b cloth or sponge when Is ln' -;
introduced in fifteen twenty minutes ,hc "a.
dead. The victim has suffered neither pain @ tboir
alton the merciful destroyer has been sparcu '"oi
iniiction and the sight OF struggles or bioou. .,
Had this me ,hod modified OF course to suit clrcuu
stances been employed with the injured elephan. IA
the Central Park Menagere. its brain woaiu INV
been more useful TO science. Had II replaced @
in the case OF pet dog described in IHE nI
some months ago. the ner, physician oil DrooAi3n
might be ali, e to-das. .ou.;,
With this agent at disposal, useful Tor certaIn
PURPOSES, and safe in skilled hands but iheVi'aIS
fatal to any living thing when taken IN excess WY
should perpetuate the present mode oil eNscu.,
uncertain in its acton and therefore unjust ana nauo
to he cruel brutal in itself and demoralizng TO tne
community Why should discuss the avaiiao'iiIty
OF prussc acid other violent drugs, electricity 'o
earotte or the guillotnel ,t.o
As have urged in IHE TRIBUNE and eiSeW
siuce 1871 and as was proposed independently by 'e
late Henry James, in chlorOorm we have means ol
destruction which is simple and Inexpensive painess
and hence humane certain and therefore IuSl: s'tn
and mysterious and consequently impressive Sc,en.o
in its associations yet capable OF administration ny any
one last, but in my mind most essential uea.n y!
chloroforn is gentle and could he strictly private the
community would thus be spared the exhibition o
maudn sentiment aud Gallows rhetoric the new
papers could not present the dreadful detal'H
shock the refined but tend like the smell OF hooh VIII
the tiger to arouse in the criminal class the very IN
stiuct Of violence which judicial homicide Is
10 rcpress BURT u. NLDLN' VI ~
Ithaca, Feb. %, 1897